Thursday, May 27, 2010

I pretty much walked in the door one evening and started grabbing bottles. It’s cool when a drink just happens. The name’s inspired by the John Coltrane composition of the same name from Blue Train. Appropriately, it was the first phrase that came to mind.

Moment’s Notice

2 oz gin

3/4 oz yellow Charteuse

3/4 oz dry vermouth

1/2 oz lime juice

1/4 oz Poire Williams

Stir with ice cubes and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Dr. Cocktail does it again. In the entry in Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails on the Straits Sling, what might be called an ancestor recipe of the Singapore Sling, he points out that you can leave out the soda water and prepare the Straits as a cocktail. I think I actually prefer it this way.

Friday, May 21, 2010

My urge to create something is often inspired by music, and Tom Waits is among my favorite artists. Special thanks to Andrew Bohrer at Caskstrength for the theme for this Mixology Monday.

could a been on easy streetcould a been a wheelwith irons in the fireand all them business dealsbut the last of the big time losersshouted before he drove awayI'll be right back as soon as I crackthe one that got away

Thursday, May 20, 2010

My housemate has a passion for books: reading, finding, buying, possessing. Our place is filled with the things. The dining room is lined with bookcases, and there’s often a stack of books beside his place at the table or on a small side table within easy reach of his chair.

I was working on this cocktail in the early evening (surrounded by the books, of course) when he returned from walking the dog. The first sip reminded me somehow of the subtle pleasures of an old book. And while I haven’t tasted many books, The Library Cocktail was the first name that came to mind. Of course he liked it.

Scotch, my housemate notes, is a contemplative spirit. (“It’s the baseball of drinking.”) Complex and intriguing, it gives heft to mixed drinks. It produces cocktails for rainy days, cool evenings, a late night round with a couple of favored guests. But it doesn’t need to be all heavy weather. Here I’ve kept the smokiness light with dry vermouth and amontillado, and Tuaca makes for a little richness in the background without getting too sweet.

The Library Cocktail

1 1/2 oz scotch (Johnnie Walker Red Label)

3/4 oz Tuaca

3/4 oz dry vermouth

1/2 oz amontillado sherry

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Monday, May 17, 2010

Sometimes I get edgy and bored because I can’t think what to make, and leaf restlessly through page after page of recipes, hoping something will catch my eye. Luckily, the Star did. It was a nice surprise—big, round, mellow, fruity but subtly so. I found it in David Wondrich’s Imbibe! and the housemate and I agreed that it has the richness we associate with a 19th-century cocktail.

Star Cocktail

1 1/2 oz apple brandy (Laird’s Straight Apple Brandy)

1 1/2 oz sweet vermouth (Punt e Mes)

1 dash curacao

3 dashes Angostura bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.SOURCE: ADAPTED FROM DAVID WONDRICH, IMBIBE!, FROM GEORGE J. KAPPELER, MODERN AMERICAN DRINKS

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

I could drink these all day. I could say the name over and over again. C’mon—say it with me: Del-MAAAR-va. Wasn’t that fun? Fascinating as it sounds, I gotta admit I had to look it up. In case anybody else doesn’t know where the name comes from, here’s a hint: it’s three states. And it’s the area that Ted “Dr. Cocktail” Haigh comes from, and this drink is his invention.

There are variations by Gary Regan that change the liqueur, one of which was posted by Paul Clarke in The Cocktail Chronicles, and resembles the Twentieth Century. (Hm—my last post referenced Paul too. Wonderful stuff but I gotta get out more—especially if it would increase the likelihood that someone would offer me a Delmarva Cocktail.)

The Delmarva Cocktail

2 oz rye

1/2 oz white creme de menthe

1/2 oz dry vermouth

1/2 oz lemon juice

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a mint leaf.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

I first found the Red Hook a few years ago in a great post by Paul Clarke. Named for an area of my old hometown, Brooklyn, New York, this rye cocktail is an appropriately edgy and solid relative of the Brooklyn and the Manhattan. I’ve become very fond of it and keep it in regular rotation, adding a lemon twist to brighten things up and compliment the rye.

Red Hook

2 oz rye

1/2 oz Punt e Mes

1/4 oz maraschino

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Deploy the twist.Source: adapted from a recipe posted by Paul Clarke, The Cocktail Chronicles

Monday, May 10, 2010

A mango tiki offering of my own: dark, rich, boozy. I did this pitchered for a party once and it was a lot of fun. The name comes from the Samoan word for a traditional wrap worn around your lower half, and I was definitely thinking of comfort when I created it.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Mandarine Napoléon is a liqueur made from mandarin oranges, as the name suggests. Like Cointreau, it has a cognac base, and it’s similarly priced. Neat stuff. I haven’t explored its range beyond this Margarita, but can’t wait to see how it works in some of the other classic cocktails that call for orange liqueur.

Mandarine Napoléon Margarita

1 1/2 oz tequila

3/4 oz Mandarine Napoléon

1/2 oz lime juice

Shake in an ice-filled shaker and strain into a chilled, salt-rimmed glass.Source: Rowen, Fogged In Lounge

Question from the Befogged: Anybody try this in something like a Sidecar or Between the Sheets?

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Spice, amber rum, lime—this is great with Chinese food. Created by Don the Beachcomber during WWII, the name is Morse code for “Victory.”

Three Dots and a Dash (...- V)

1/2 oz lime juice

1/2 oz orange juice

1/2 oz honey mix (1 part honey to 1 part water)

1 1/2 oz amber Martinique rum

1/2 oz Demerara rum

Dash Angostura bitters

1/4 oz falernum

1/4 oz pimento dram

6 oz (3/4 cup) crushed ice

Put everything in a blender. Blend at high speed for no more that 5 seconds. Pour into a specialty glass (pictured). Garnish with 3 cocktail cherries speared to a pineapple stick. (The “three dots and a dash.”)Source: Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, Sippin’ Safari